Yes, that’s pretty much it!
Excuse my total ignorance, but what exactly is the ‘1 sentence in Welsh’ thing? Do we have to write or record ourselves saying a sentence in Welsh, and is it for those doing the challenges? Think I must’ve missed it somewhere along the line lol.
I think its a taster type course. As far as I’m aware, more esrablished students don’t usually see it because their computers/devices bypass it on the way to their chosen course material.
Nope, it’s the new intro for new learners - some bite-sized lessons to warm them up for the real stuff…
Haven’t been doing the lessons for a while, and decided to get going again. I started going over them in the evening, and partway through Challenge 2, I began to get tired. But I was determined that I was going to finish before I went to bed. Survived the challenge, and now it’s past midnight and I want to sleep. Nos da, pawb.
Why say “dwi dal isio siarad”, when you can say “dwi dal ishad”? I’m getting to be a pro at combining words, apparently. Also said “ymarfad” for “ymarfer siarad”.
Gonna start Challenge 3 soon. Wish me luck. And for anyone reading this forum, prepare for the whinging and whining later when I forget words, mix things up, and draw a complete blank. If it feels anything like the first time I did Challenge 2, I’ll spend half the lesson on the pause button and the other half accusing Aran of trying to overload my brain.
Come to think of it, I don’t always do well with English either. Earlier today, while on the phone with my mother, I was saying, “Yeah, you asked if you wanted me to bring over… I mean, you had asked if you wanted me… AUGH! You asked if I wanted Dutch Brothers.” I could not for the life of me say “You asked if I wanted you to bring me Dutch Brothers.” (Dutch Bros does coffee drinks and smoothies, for clarification.) And this is the language I’m fluent in.
Had to say “dechrau” in Challenge 3, and all of the sudden my attempts at CH sounded horrible and pathetic, and nothing like a CH should. This is going to bug me all through the lesson. I think I’m better at pronouncing LL than CH.
Okay, this isn’t too bad. I’m doing okay, other than CH. Maybe this lesson will be less painful.
What was this word? Huh? What? Oh, I think it was “bo’ ddi” or “boddi”, something like that. This doesn’t quite make sense to me, but okay. AUGH, I can’t get the hang of this. (brain implodes and parts of it catch on fire)
Drat, it was “bo’ fi”. And I’m still struggling to put it in sentences. How did a single thing mess me up so badly? I was doing okay up until that point, and then my brain died a horrendous death. Guess I have something to do tomorrow, go through this lesson again.
Pob lwc.
Combining words or using one that sounds similar does happen a lot. But that’s usually hilarious, if you don’t take it too seriously.
As for CH, don’t worry, when you reach Challenge 25 and the past tense of hearing you’ll get to practice that a lot!!!
However, for the unusual sounds of Welsh language, I can say that finding a song that you enjoy with a lot of those is very helpful. After about a million hollol, it became quite natural to me. So I could move to a new song going mynach sychder, yn mynychu cornel. Still working on this!
Diolch! My lessons are filled with moments of frustration when I forget stuff or struggle greatly, and moments of laughing helplessly at ridiculous errors I’ve made, like mixing up words and stringing them together in ways that make no sense.
The funny thing is, I’ve been aware of CH and rolled Rs for a long while, though I wasn’t that good at CH, and was no good at producing a rolled R. Perhaps the R is formed in the throat, sort of like CH?
And after reading some things on rolled Rs, I’ve gained the impression I’m forming R the wrong way for trying to roll it. Yay.
Anyway, I’ve listened to music and sometimes tried to sing along and mimic it. I’ve tried CH, but it doesn’t always come out well, and sometimes I forget about trying to pronounce it differently in songs. And I tend to envy everyone’s rolled Rs without making much effort to duplicate it (or get around to looking up explanations of how to say it, apparently).
The LL sound, on the other hand, was a new concept to me, and for whatever reason, I proceeded to hyper-focus on it. So those aren’t as intimidating to me. But CH is touch-and-go, and trilled Rs just don’t happen.
That’s exactly the plan…
Keep practicing your ‘CH,’ it will come. Sometimes, I have to stop and physically say the word, ‘loch’ as in Scottish loch to get the ‘CH’ sound. Trilling ‘R’s’ has a genetic component to it I think. My Wife can’t trill ‘R’s’ for anything and she’s supremely talented!
I don’t know about genetic. What I know for sure is that in Italian language we’re supposed to trill the R’s too, so we’re somewhat familiar with it since we’re toddlers.
However probably about 50% or more of the population - including myself - pronounce it in a whole lot of different ways that are not exactly as it should be.
In most cases it could be corrected or improved - it’s just a matter of habits and lack of practice. In fact since I’'ve bee learning Welsh, and doing an effort to get its sounds right, also my Italian R has become better!
But since it’s our mother tongue…we usually just don’t care and we manage to communicate anyway.
I guess this is worth remembering, against excess of perfectionism (I also forgot to mention this to @meowmocha)
Yeah, slightly confusing in Newport, SE Wales, where Lock in English seems to suggest the expanse of water (Dock section) thats being controlled by said lock gate. So they’ve got South Dock North Lock. Not to be confused with Loch
Same thing in the United States. We love to slaughter foreign words, so loch is lock.
Hello. I want to learn the language of my mother’s family. My grandmother was born in Bridgend, great grandma in Swansea. My great grandfather on my father’s side was born in Wales. Pennsylvania coal miners. BUT my Welsh grandma went to college soon after immigrating. I have been to Wales when I lived in the UK, but always wish I could move back…
Croeso! Welcome to the wonderful SSiW forum! Don’t hesitate to ask if you need any help along the way.
Hey!
I just started this thing and it seems to be pretty cool. I want to learn welsh because I love welsh culture and music (I come from brittany, in france). And I loooove the sound of this language.
My written english is not perfect but I have no problem for reading or understanding, I hope it’s ok for you.
Hope I’ll enjoy learning welsh.
Hey zhala-1 and croeso (welcome)
Don’t worry about your written English. There are many people who are not native English speaker.(like me)
Please come here if you have any questions, problems or if you just want to share some success.
Enjoy your journey into the Welsh language.
Hwyl
Thanks @brigitte !
For the moment I really enjoy the sessions. I don’t want to rush it because I think it may overload my brain, but for the moment I find it quite easy (I’m on day 4). That’s pretty cool.
It’s fun because I’ve started to watch some welsh series and I recognize some words wich seems to be the same in breton. For example ben or pen (I don’t know how it is written) seems to mean head or end. And du (I don’t know if it’s written like this) seams to mean black.
I come from a place called Penhoët. Pen is “the head” or “the end”, and hoët come from coat/hoat/goat (I don’t know the real way to write it) wich means trees or forest.
In welsh, trees is “coet”. So “pen hoët” = “pen coet” ? That’s really close !
I don’t even speak breton but I have some friends who do and I love breton music and culture. (and obviously I come from Brittany)
Welcome. Feel free to soak in the atmosphere (so to speak) and contribute or ask questions any time. Ah, Penhoët. Thats great. We have Pencoed with same meaning, in our area. Also, the locals pronounce it “Code”